Receptacle lock



Aug. 1, 1933.

E. w. STORMS l;920,8l3

RECEPTACLE LOCK Filed July 20, 1931 2-Sheets-Sheet 1 1 50 ll! I 'Y IQ 30 31 23 k INVENTOR. v i I wig/ m a.

A TTORNEY;

E. W. STORMS RECEPTACLE LOCK Aug. 1, 19.33.

Filed July 20, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet jg w Z8 Patented Aug. 1,1933

1,920,813 I h RECEPTACLE Loon 7 Earl W. Storms, Los Angeles, Calif. Application July 20, 1931. Serial No. 551,865

' 1 Claim. (o1. 232-41 I Myinvention relates to improvements in receptacle locks, wherein the operation of an outer door iscontrolled by the operation of an inner door and. more particularly in which an improved locking mechanism isprovided for automatically locking an outside door closed only. after said.

door has been opened and closed following an opening and closing movement of an inner door.

Afurther feature of my improvement is the releasing of an outer door by said'locking mechanism immediately when the inside door is opened, said outer door remaining released until the outer door has" been subsequently closed following a complete opening and closing movement of the inner door. v i 7 An object oi my invention is to provide locking mechanism of the class stated which is particularly adapted for protecting built in article receptacles for dwellings and other places, against pil- 0 fering, whereby milk containers, parcels and other articles may be deposited without risk from theft,

the outer door being closed and locked and not again released until the attendant has. opened the inside door. Among further objects are simplicity of construction and greater effectiveness in use. 7 g

More particularly thisinvention'is an improvement upon the structure disclosed in my prior patday of May, 1917. g

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Fig. l is a horizontal section of an article receptacle showing my improved looking mechan sm applied thereto, said article receptacle being illustrated built into a portion of a wall structure and the housing of the locking mechanism being partly broken away and in section; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views of my pressed back by the catch on the outer door and 7 said latch being illustrated in a position to turn with the catch on theouter door.

of the following parts.

ent, Number 1,219,360, granted to me on the 13th closed, my improved locking mechanism being il-' lustrated with the latch memberand its gate block horizontally into normal position and engagement I As shown in the drawings the several'parts of the locking mechanism are attached to a small housing A, which in turn is fastened to the inner walls of the article receiving receptacle B (see Fig. 1), by screws 10 or other suitable meanssaid' receptacle being-built into a wall C of a dwelling or other structure and provided with outer and inner hinged doors D and E. These doors are provided with ordinary spring fasteners 11 and 12 by which they are releasably held closed but not locked so that a delivery of articles may be'made from the outside and said articles readily removed from the inside of a dwelling and the door's'closed and kept closed. Said housing has top, bottom and side walls 13, 14. and 15 andend walls 16 and l I 17 to which the parts of the locking mechanism are attached in the following manner.

The locking mechanism contained in saidhousing A and by which the outer door is looked after a delivery is made and not again unlocked except through the operation of the inner door, consists Fis a latch formed bya two part lever having a main supporting member 18 and a catch engaging member said support ing member being pivoted by shaft. 19 to tilt up and down in a yoke 20 which is securedtothe top wall 13 of the housing by screws 21. One end of said lever has a gauge 22 which swings freely between the wall 17'and stop 23 on" a reciprocable lock actuating shaft 34,130 be hereinaiter...de-'.

scribed, to limit the swinging movement of the,

inner opposite end 24 of said lever between horizontal or normal position as shown in Figs. 3 and '4 and downwardly tilted unlocking, position as shown i n Fig. 2. The catch engaging member G is mounted to swing laterally by'a bolt 25 on the inner end 24 of the main supporting member 18 of lever F. and isadapted to swing laterally.

Member G has a hook 26 on its forward end in juxtaposition to opening 2'7 through the end 16.

of the housing and said hook inturn has a curved forward edge 28 whlch acts as a guide to deflect and cause the catch engaging member G of the lever to swing laterallyinto engagement with a rigid catch H resembling a down turned hook:

mounted upon the. inner face of the outer door D and adapted to enter the catch receiving opening 27 when said door is closed. The catch engaging member G constituting part of the latch F is urged horizontally into vertical alignment witht the catch receiving opening 27 by a leaf spring 30 mounted upon yoke 20. In this position a block member F to be hereinafter described, presses against the inner surface of the side wall 15 of the housing to limit the movement of catch en-ct gaging member G under the action of said spring.

The latch F is urged upwardly into horizontal position with its catch engaging member G in catch engaging or normal position and in-juxtaposition to opening 27, by a retractile spring 32 which is secured to the gauge 22 and a rigid abutment 33 on the bottom wall 14 of the housing. In this position the'stop shoulders 3'7 and 38 on catch engaging member G slidably contacts with the inner face of thevupper wall 13 to define the nornia position of and assist in guiding mem-- ber G in part of its movement. The reciprocable shaft 34 constituting part of the depressible lock" actuator slides freely through and is guidedby the rigid abutment 33 and the end wall 17 of the housing, its inner end projecting through said abutment and being limited; in inward movement by a stop 35, on the bottom wall of the housing and having its outer end projecting throughthe inner doorway in position to be forced into its innermost position to swing the latch member into normal position by the closing movement of the inner door'E. "A compression spring 36 I between the shoulder piece 23 on the shaft and the abutment 33 normally urges the shaft into outermost'depressible position with the gauge 22 strikingagainst the wall 17 of the housing and the latch F tilted down out of engagement with catch H;

' It'will be noted that the expansive strength of compression spring 36 is greater than the pulling tendency of retractile spring 32 so that latch F is swung down when the door E is opened and the lock actuator released into outermost position but is drawn upward into normalposition by spring 32' when'shaft 34 is moved into depressed position bythe closing movement of door E.

' Arranged on the latchmember G is a block member F whose function is to obstruct entrance to the throat 39 (see Fig. 5) of the latch member G by catch H, when the inner door is closed" after the closing of the outer door.. This block F is siidably mounted to reciprocate'freely longitudinally' on the latch member G ,and normally is urged outwardly in obstructing position by "a inner door is closed, a block slidably supported on said latch andadapted to move forwardly and close the entrance into the latch when'the latter longitudinal shaft 40, mounted on a support 41 struck upwardly from the block and slidably supported through the stop shoulders'3'7 and 33'on the latchh An expansion spring42 encompassing shaft 40 between shoulder 38'and'astop' 43" on I K said shaft depressibly urges the block into normal j blockingposition but permits catch Hfto' slide the block so that it will automatics'lly. engage the latch when the outer door is closed and when the inner door is open. I fOperation V t t that both of the doors are closed (see catch engaging position, depressible means actutheclosing of the-innerjdoor.

tilted down and released from engagement with .catch'I-I, in which position the outer door is left free to be opened for another delivery. When the inside door is closed and the lock actuator 34 depressed, the latch is prevented from again engaging catch H by the block F, which automatically prevents the latch swinging up by striking the lower down turned end of the catch. Thus the outer door is left free to be opened to make another delivery of articles into the receptacle after'the inner door has been closed but automatically locks closed from the position shown in Fig. 3 and into the position shown in Fig. 4,

following the subse quent opening and closing of the outer door. 'When'the doors are closed (see Fig. l) the'releasable fasteners 11 and 12 serve to hold them from unintentional opening.

Modifications in construction are contemplated within the spirit of my invention and within the scope of the following claim.

Having described my'invention, what I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent isz A receptacle having outer and inner doors,

means for releasably fastening said doors closed, and mechanism for locking said outer door in closed position, said"mechanism* comprising, a catch memberprojecting inwardly from said. outer door, a latch hinged in' said receptacle td swing vertically and laterally into substantially horizontal normal positionfor cooperative engagement with said catch when the outer door is closed, means urging said latch into said normal ated by the opening movement of said inner door for swinging said latch vertically out of the path of and out of engagement withsaid catch when the inner. door is opened and releasing said latch.

to move into catch engaging position when the" tendsto swing into catch engaging position, and

into blockingposition and permitting said block toretract under the action of said catch entering into engagement with said latch after the outer door has been opened and again closed following i EARL w. STORMS. 

